Multiple resource unit allocation for OFDMA WLAN

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are disclosed for multiple resource unit (RU) allocation for OFDMA WLAN. A transmitter may parse an encoded bit stream into a plurality of spatial streams. The transmitter may determine an allocation of encoded bits of the plurality of spatial streams to a plurality of interleavers. The transmitter may allocate the encoded bits to the plurality of interleavers based on the determined allocation. The allocation of the encoded bits may be determined based on one or more of channel related feedback, an RU configuration associated with the transmission, a quality of service (QoS), and/or traffic priorities. The transmitter may interleave the encoded bits using the plurality of interleavers. The transmitter may combine the interleaved encoded bits from the plurality of interleavers into a sequenced bit stream.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the National Stage Entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 ofPatent Cooperation Treaty Application No. PCT/US2016/050718, filed Sep.8, 2016, which claims priority to U.S. provisional patent applicationNo. 62/217,440, filed Sep. 11, 2015, which are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) may have multiple modes ofoperation, such as an Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode and anIndependent BSS (IBSS) mode. A WLAN in Infrastructure BSS mode may havean Access Point (AP) for the BSS. One or more wireless transmit receiveunits (WTRUs), e.g., stations (STAs), may be associated with an AP. AnAP may have access or an interface to a Distribution System (DS) orother type of wired/wireless network that carries traffic in and out ofa BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside a BSS may arrivethrough an AP, which may deliver the traffic to the STAs.

SUMMARY

Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are disclosed for multipleresource unit (RU) allocation for OFDMA WLAN. A transmitter may parse anencoded bit stream into a plurality of spatial streams. The transmittermay be a network device, such as an access point (AP) that includes amemory, a transceiver, and a processor. The encoded bit stream may beassociated with a transmission to a station (STA). The encoded bitstream may be parsed based on resource unit (RU) size. The transmittermay determine an allocation of encoded bits of the plurality of spatialstreams to a plurality of interleavers. The allocation of encoded bitsmay be based on a RU configuration. Each of the plurality ofinterleavers may be associated with one or more RUs of multiple RUsassociated with the transmission. The multiple RUs may be non-contiguousand/or unequal in size. The transmitter may allocate the encoded bits tothe plurality of interleavers based on the determined allocation. Theallocation of the encoded bits may be determined based on one or more ofchannel related feedback, an RU configuration associated with thetransmission, a quality of service (QoS), and/or traffic priorities. Thetransmitter may interleave the encoded bits using the plurality ofinterleavers. The transmitter may combine the interleaved encoded bitsfrom the plurality of interleavers into a sequenced bit stream. Theplurality of interleavers used for the transmission may be equal to anamount of the multiple RUs allocated for the transmission. Each of theplurality of interleavers may correspond to a corresponding RU of themultiple RUs. The transmitter may send the transmission to the STA.

The transmitter may determine one or more modulation and coding schemes(MCSs) for the multiple RUs. The transmitter may map the encoded bits ofthe plurality of spatial streams to one or more constellation points.The transmitter may map the encoded bits based on the one or moredetermined MCSs. The transmitter may determine a multiple input multipleoutput (MIMO) scheme for each RU of the multiple RUs. The transmittermay determine a space-time code (e.g., a space-time block code) based onthe determined MIMO scheme for each RU. The transmitter may spread theone or more constellation points from the plurality of spatial streamsinto a plurality of space-time streams, for example, using thespace-time code. The transmitter may map the plurality of space-timestreams to a plurality of transmit chains. The transmitter may determinewhich RU of the multiple RUs should be used for each transmittingantenna. The transmitter may allocate, to the STA based on the RUdetermination, the encoded bits to one or more RUs of the multiple RUs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A illustrates exemplary wireless local area network (WLAN)devices.

FIG. 1B is a diagram of an example communications system in which one ormore disclosed features may be implemented.

FIG. 1C depicts an exemplary wireless transmit/receive unit, WTRU.

FIG. 2 shows an example of OFDMA numerology for a 20 MHz building block.

FIG. 3 shows an example of OFDMA numerology for a 40 MHz building block.

FIG. 4 shows an example of OFDMA numerology for an 80 MHz buildingblock.

FIG. 5 shows an example of OFDMA numerology for an 80 MHz building blockhighlighting a resource unit (RU).

FIG. 6 shows an example interleaver design and tone mapper design forOFDMA.

FIG. 7 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter with a jointinterleaver for a multiple RU allocation.

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter with a joint LDPCtone mapper for a multiple RU allocation.

FIG. 9 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter with a multiplexedparallel block interleaver for a multiple RU allocation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter data flow for amultiple equal-size RU allocation.

FIG. 11 shows an example of OFDMA numerology for a 20 MHz building blockhighlighting 5 non-contiguous RUs with 26 tones.

FIG. 12 is a chart depicting an example performance of a multiplexedparallel block interleaver for a TG-B channel.

FIG. 13 is a chart depicting an example performance of a multiplexedparallel block interleaver for a TG-D channel.

FIG. 14 is a chart depicting an example performance of a multiplexedparallel block interleaver for a UMi-LOS channel.

FIG. 15 is a chart depicting an example performance of a multiplexedparallel block interleaver for a UMi-NLOS channel.

FIG. 16 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter data flow for amultiple unequal-size RU allocation.

FIG. 17 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter with a controlledmultiplexed parallel block interleaver for a multiple RU allocation.

FIG. 18 is a chart depicting an example performance between contiguousand non-contiguous RU allocations.

FIG. 19 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter with a multiplexedparallel block interleaver for a multiple RU allocation prior to spatialmultiplexing.

FIG. 20 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter with a multiplexedparallel block interleaver for a multiple RU and multi-user allocation.

FIG. 21 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter with a singlestream parallel block interleaver for a multiple RU allocation.

FIG. 22 is a diagram depicting input and output parameters of an examplescheduler.

FIG. 23 is a diagram depicting an example tree structure of OFDMAbuilding blocks.

FIG. 24 is a diagram depicting an example tree structure of OFDMAbuilding blocks.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A detailed description of illustrative embodiments will now be describedwith reference to the various Figures. Although this descriptionprovides a detailed example of possible implementations, it should benoted that the details are intended to be exemplary and in no way limitthe scope of the application.

FIG. 1A illustrates exemplary wireless local area network (WLAN)devices. One or more of the devices may be used to implement one or moreof the features described herein. The WLAN may include, but is notlimited to, access point (AP) 102, station (STA) 110, and STA 112. STA110 and 112 may be associated with AP 102. The WLAN may be configured toimplement one or more protocols of the IEEE 802.11 communicationstandard, which may include a channel access scheme, such as DSSS, OFDM,OFDMA, etc. A WLAN may operate in a mode, e.g., an infrastructure mode,an ad-hoc mode, etc.

A WLAN operating in an infrastructure mode may comprise one or more APscommunicating with one or more associated STAs. An AP and STA(s)associated with the AP may comprise a basic service set (BSS). Forexample, AP 102, STA 110, and STA 112 may comprise BSS 122. An extendedservice set (ESS) may comprise one or more APs (with one or more BSSs)and STA(s) associated with the APs. An AP may have access to, and/orinterface to, distribution system (DS) 116, which may be wired and/orwireless and may carry traffic to and/or from the AP. Traffic to a STAin the WLAN originating from outside the WLAN may be received at an APin the WLAN, which may send the traffic to the STA in the WLAN. Trafficoriginating from a STA in the WLAN to a destination outside the WLAN,e.g., to server 118, may be sent to an AP in the WLAN, which may sendthe traffic to the destination, e.g., via DS 116 to network 114 to besent to server 118. Traffic between STAs within the WLAN may be sentthrough one or more APs. For example, a source STA (e.g., STA 110) mayhave traffic intended for a destination STA (e.g., STA 112). STA 110 maysend the traffic to AP 102, and, AP 102 may send the traffic to STA 112.

A WLAN may operate in an ad-hoc mode. The ad-hoc mode WLAN may bereferred to as independent basic service set (IBBS). In an ad-hoc modeWLAN, the STAs may communicate directly with each other (e.g., STA 110may communicate with STA 112 without such communication being routedthrough an AP).

IEEE 802.11 devices (e.g., IEEE 802.11 APs in a BSS) may use beaconframes to announce the existence of a WLAN network. An AP, such as AP102, may transmit a beacon on a channel, e.g., a fixed channel, such asa primary channel. A STA may use a channel, such as the primary channel,to establish a connection with an AP.

STA(s) and/or AP(s) may use a Carrier Sense Multiple Access withCollision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) channel access mechanism. In CSMA/CA a STAand/or an AP may sense the primary channel. For example, if a STA hasdata to send, the STA may sense the primary channel. If the primarychannel is detected to be busy, the STA may back off. For example, aWLAN or portion thereof may be configured so that one STA may transmitat a given time, e.g., in a given BSS. Channel access may include RTSand/or CTS signaling. For example, an exchange of a request to send(RTS) frame may be transmitted by a sending device and a clear to send(CTS) frame that may be sent by a receiving device. For example, if anAP has data to send to a STA, the AP may send an RTS frame to the STA.If the STA is ready to receive data, the STA may respond with a CTSframe. The CTS frame may include a time value that may alert other STAsto hold off from accessing the medium while the AP initiating the RTSmay transmit its data. On receiving the CTS frame from the STA, the APmay send the data to the STA.

A device may reserve spectrum via a network allocation vector (NAV)field. For example, in an IEEE 802.11 frame, the NAV field may be usedto reserve a channel for a time period. A STA that wants to transmitdata may set the NAV to the time for which it may expect to use thechannel. When a STA sets the NAV, the NAV may be set for an associatedWLAN or subset thereof (e.g., a BSS). Other STAs may count down the NAVto zero. When the counter reaches a value of zero, the NAV functionalitymay indicate to the other STA that the channel is now available.

The devices in a WLAN, such as an AP or STA, may include one or more ofthe following: a processor, a memory, a radio receiver and/ortransmitter (e.g., which may be combined in a transceiver), one or moreantennas (e.g., antennas 106 in FIG. 1A), etc. A processor function maycomprise one or more processors. For example, the processor may compriseone or more of: a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor(e.g., a baseband processor, a MAC processor, etc.), a digital signalprocessor (DSP), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integratedcircuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The one or more processorsmay be integrated or not integrated with each other. The processor(e.g., the one or more processors or a subset thereof) may be integratedwith one or more other functions (e.g., other functions such as memory).The processor may perform signal coding, data processing, power control,input/output processing, modulation, demodulation, and/or any otherfunctionality that may enable the device to operate in a wirelessenvironment, such as the WLAN of FIG. 1A. The processor may beconfigured to execute processor executable code (e.g., instructions)including, for example, software and/or firmware instructions. Forexample, the processor may be configured to execute computer readableinstructions included on one or more of the processor (e.g., a chipsetthat includes memory and a processor) or memory. Execution of theinstructions may cause the device to perform one or more of thefunctions described herein.

A device may include one or more antennas. The device may employmultiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques. The one or moreantennas may receive a radio signal. The processor may receive the radiosignal, e.g., via the one or more antennas. The one or more antennas maytransmit a radio signal (e.g., based on a signal sent from theprocessor).

The device may have a memory that may include one or more devices forstoring programming and/or data, such as processor executable code orinstructions (e.g., software, firmware, etc.), electronic data,databases, or other digital information. The memory may include one ormore memory units. One or more memory units may be integrated with oneor more other functions (e.g., other functions included in the device,such as the processor). The memory may include a read-only memory (ROM)(e.g., erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electricallyerasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), etc.), random accessmemory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flashmemory devices, and/or other non-transitory computer-readable media forstoring information. The memory may be coupled to the processor. Theprocessor may communicate with one or more entities of memory, e.g., viaa system bus, directly, etc.

FIG. 1B is a diagram of an example communications system 100 in whichone or more disclosed features may be implemented. For example, awireless network (e.g., a wireless network comprising one or morecomponents of the communications system 100) may be configured such thatbearers that extend beyond the wireless network (e.g., beyond a walledgarden associated with the wireless network) may be assigned QoScharacteristics.

The communications system 100 may be a multiple access system thatprovides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast,etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 mayenable multiple wireless users to access such content through thesharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example,the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel accessmethods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time divisionmultiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA),orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the communications system 100 may include at leastone wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), such as a plurality of WTRUs,for instance WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, and 102 d, a radio accessnetwork (RAN) 104, a core network 106, a public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though itshould be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate anynumber of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and/or network elements. Eachof the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d may be any type of deviceconfigured to operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. Byway of example, the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d may be configuredto transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include userequipment (UE), a mobile station (e.g., a WLAN STA), a fixed or mobilesubscriber unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer,a wireless sensor, consumer electronics, and the like.

The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114 a anda base station 114 b. Each of the base stations 114 a, 114 b may be anytype of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one ofthe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d to facilitate access to one or morecommunication networks, such as the core network 106, the Internet 110,and/or the networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114 a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, an eNode B, a HomeNode B, a Home eNode B, a site controller, an access point (AP), awireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114 a, 114 b areeach depicted as a single element, it should be appreciated that thebase stations 114 a, 114 b may include any number of interconnected basestations and/or network elements.

The base station 114 a may be part of the RAN 104, which may alsoinclude other base stations and/or network elements (not shown), such asa base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relaynodes, etc. The base station 114 a and/or the base station 114 b may beconfigured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals within aparticular geographic region, which may be referred to as a cell (notshown). The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example,the cell associated with the base station 114 a may be divided intothree sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114 a mayinclude three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. Inanother embodiment, the base station 114 a may employ multiple-inputmultiple output (MIMO) technology and, therefore, may utilize multipletransceivers for each sector of the cell.

The base stations 114 a, 114 b may communicate with one or more of theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d over an air interface 116, which may beany suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF),microwave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). Theair interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio accesstechnology (RAT).

More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may bea multiple access system and may employ one or more channel accessschemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. Forexample, the base station 114 a in the RAN 104 and the WTRUs 102 a, 102b, 102 c may implement a radio technology such as Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), whichmay establish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMAmay include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access(HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed DownlinkPacket Access (HSDPA) and/or High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

In another embodiment, the base station 114 a and the WTRUs 102 a, 102b, 102 c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A).

In other embodiments, the base station 114 a and the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b,102 c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.16 (i.e.,Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000,CDMA2000 1×, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), InterimStandard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System forMobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

The base station 114 b in FIG. 1B may be a wireless router, Home Node B,Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitableRAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such asa place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, and the like. In oneembodiment, the base station 114 b and the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d mayimplement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN). In another embodiment, the base station 114 band the WTRUs 102 c, 102 d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yetanother embodiment, the base station 114 b and the WTRUs 102 c, 102 dmay utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE,LTE-A, etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1B,the base station 114 b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110.Thus, the base station 114 b may not be required to access the Internet110 via the core network 106.

The RAN 104 may be in communication with the core network 106, which maybe any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications,and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more ofthe WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d. For example, the core network 106may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-basedservices, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution,etc., and/or perform high-level security functions, such as userauthentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1B, it should be appreciatedthat the RAN 104 and/or the core network 106 may be in direct orindirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as theRAN 104 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connectedto the RAN 104, which may be utilizing an E-UTRA radio technology, thecore network 106 may also be in communication with another RAN (notshown) employing a GSM radio technology.

The core network 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102 a,102 b, 102 c, 102 d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and/orother networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephonenetworks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks anddevices that use common communication protocols, such as thetransmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) andthe internet protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. Thenetworks 112 may include wired or wireless communications networks ownedand/or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks112 may include another core network connected to one or more RANs,which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

Some or all of the WTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d in thecommunications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities, i.e., theWTRUs 102 a, 102 b, 102 c, 102 d may include multiple transceivers forcommunicating with different wireless networks over different wirelesslinks. For example, the WTRU 102 c shown in FIG. 1B may be configured tocommunicate with the base station 114 a, which may employ acellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114 b, whichmay employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

FIG. 1C depicts an exemplary wireless transmit/receive unit, WTRU 102. AWTRU may be a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a WLAN STA, a fixedor mobile subscriber unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personalcomputer, a wireless sensor, consumer electronics, and the like. WTRU102 may be used in one or more of the communications systems describedherein. As shown in FIG. 1C, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, atransceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130,removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system(GPS) chipset 136, and other peripherals 138. It should be appreciatedthat the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoingelements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purposeprocessor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), aplurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in associationwith a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGAs)circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine,and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, dataprocessing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any otherfunctionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wirelessenvironment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120,which may be coupled to the transmit/receive element 122. While FIG. 1Cdepicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separatecomponents, it should be appreciated that the processor 118 and thetransceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package orchip.

The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signalsto, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, thetransmit/receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmitand/or receive RF signals. In another embodiment, the transmit/receiveelement 122 may be an emitter/detector configured to transmit and/orreceive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet anotherembodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured totransmit and receive both RF and light signals. It should be appreciatedthat the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmitand/or receive any combination of wireless signals.

In addition, although the transmit/receive element 122 is depicted inFIG. 1C as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number oftransmit/receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 mayemploy MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 mayinclude two or more transmit/receive elements 122 (e.g., multipleantennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the airinterface 116.

The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that areto be transmitted by the transmit/receive element 122 and to demodulatethe signals that are received by the transmit/receive element 122. Asnoted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, thetransceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as UTRA and IEEE 802.11, forexample.

The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receiveuser input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/orthe display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) displayunit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor118 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 mayaccess information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory,such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132.The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storagedevice. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identitymodule (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card,and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may accessinformation from, and store data in, memory that is not physicallylocated on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (notshown).

The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and maybe configured to distribute and/or control the power to the othercomponents in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitabledevice for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 mayinclude one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd),nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion),etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which maybe configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude andlatitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In additionto, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from abase station (e.g., base stations 114 a, 114 b) and/or determine itslocation based on the timing of the signals being received from two ormore nearby base stations. It should be appreciated that the WTRU 102may acquire location information by way of any suitablelocation-determination method while remaining consistent with anembodiment.

The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, whichmay include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provideadditional features, functionality and/or wired or wirelessconnectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include anaccelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera(for photographs or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, avibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, aBluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digitalmusic player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internetbrowser, and the like.

Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are disclosed for unifiedfeedback for OFDMA WLAN. Unified feedback may be provided byper-RU-based MCS feedback, per-RU-based CSI feedback and/or feedbackwith symmetric RU allocation.

A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) may have multiple modes ofoperation, such as an Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode and anIndependent BSS (IBSS) mode. A WLAN in Infrastructure BSS mode may havean Access Point (AP) for the BSS. One or more stations (STAs) may beassociated with an AP. An AP may have access or an interface to aDistribution System (DS) or other type of wired/wireless network thatcarries traffic in and out of a BSS. Traffic to STAs that originatesfrom outside a BSS may arrive through an AP, which may deliver thetraffic to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinationsoutside a BSS may be sent to an AP, which may deliver the traffic torespective destinations. Traffic between STAs within a BSS may be sentthrough an AP, e.g., from a source STA to the AP and from the AP to thedestination STA. Traffic between STAs within a BSS may be peer-to-peertraffic. Peer-to-peer traffic may be sent directly between the sourceand destination STAs, for example, with a direct link setup (DLS) usingan 802.11e DLS or an 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN in IndependentBSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and, STAs may communicate directlywith each other. An IBSS mode of communication may be referred to as an“ad-hoc” mode of communication.

An AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel (e.g. a primary channel),for example, in an 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation. A channelmay be, for example, 20 MHz wide. A channel may be an operating channelof a BSS. A channel may be used by STAs, for example, to establish aconnection with an AP. A channel access mechanism in an 802.11 system isCarrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA). AnSTA, including an AP, may sense a primary channel, for example, in aCSMA/CA mode of operation. An STA may back off, for example, when achannel is detected to be busy so that only one STA may transmit at atime in a given BSS.

High Throughput (HT) STAs may use, for example, a 40 MHz wide channelfor communication, e.g., in 802.11n. A primary 20 MHz channel may becombined with an adjacent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz widecontiguous channel.

Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support, for example, 20 MHz, 40MHz, 80 MHz and 160 MHz wide channels, e.g., in 802.11ac. 40 MHz and 80MHz channels may be formed, for example, by combining contiguous 20 MHzchannels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed, for example, by combiningeight contiguous 20 MHz channels or by combining two non-contiguous 80MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. An80+80 configuration may be passed through a segment parser that dividesdata into two streams, for example, after channel encoding. Inverse FastFourier Transform (IFFT) and time domain processing may be performed,for example, on each stream separately. Streams may be mapped onto twochannels. Data may be transmitted on the two channels. A receiver mayreverse a transmitter mechanism. A receiver may recombine datatransmitted on multiple channels. Recombined data may be sent to MediaAccess Control (MAC).

Sub-GHz (e.g. MHz) modes of operation may be supported, for example, by802.11af and 802.11ah. Channel operating bandwidths and carriers may bereduced, for example, relative bandwidths and carriers used in 802.11nand 802.11ac. 802.11af may support, for example, 5 MHz, 10 MHz and 20MHz bandwidths in a TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum. 802.11ah maysupport, for example, 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz and 16 MHz bandwidthsin non-TVWS spectrum. An example of a use case for 802.11ah may besupport for Meter Type Control (MTC) devices in a macro coverage area.MTC devices may have limited capabilities (e.g. limited bandwidths) andmay be designed to have a very long battery life.

WLAN systems (e.g. 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11af and 802.11ah systems) maysupport multiple channels and channel widths, such as a channeldesignated as a primary channel. A primary channel may, for example,have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidthsupported by STAs in a BSS. Bandwidth of a primary channel may belimited by an STA that supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode.In an example of 802.11ah, a primary channel may be 1 MHz wide, forexample, when there are one or more STAs (e.g. MTC type devices) thatsupport a 1 MHz mode while an AP and other STAs support a 2 MHz, 4 MHz,8 MHz, 16 MHz or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carriersensing and NAV settings may depend on the status of a primary channel.As an example, all available frequency bands may be considered busy andremain idle despite being available, for example, when a primary channelhas a busy status due to an STA that supports a 1 MHz operating modetransmitting to an AP on the primary channel.

Available frequency bands may vary between different regions. As anexample, in the United States, available frequency bands used by802.11ah may be 902 MHz to 928 MHz in the United States, 917.5 MHz to923.5 MHz in Korea and 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz in Japan. Total bandwidthavailable may vary between different regions. As an example, the totalbandwidth available for 802.11ah may be 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on thecountry code.

Spectral efficiency may be improved, for example, by downlink Multi-UserMultiple-Input/Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO) transmission to multiple STAsin the same symbol's time frame, e.g., during a downlink OFDM symbol.Downlink MU-MIMO may be implemented, for example, in 802.11ac and802.11ah. Interference of waveform transmissions to multiple STAs may beavoided, for example, when downlink MU-MIMO uses the same symbol timingto multiple STAs. Operating bandwidth of a MU-MIMO transmission may belimited to the smallest channel bandwidth supported by STAs in a MU-MIMOtransmission with an AP, for example, when STAs involved in a MU-MIMOtransmission with an AP use the same channel or band.

IEEE 802.11™ High Efficiency WLAN (HEW), which may be referred to as HE,may enhance the quality of service (QoS) experienced by wireless usersin many usage scenarios, such as high-density deployments of APs andSTAs in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. HEW Radio Resource Management (RRM)technologies may support a variety of applications or usage scenarios,such as data delivery for stadium events, high user density scenariossuch as train stations or enterprise/retail environments, video deliveryand wireless services for medical applications. HEW may be implemented,for example, in IEEE 802.11ax.

Short packets, which may be generated by network applications, may beapplicable in a variety of applications, such as virtual office, TPCacknowledge (ACK), Video streaming ACK, device/controller (e.g. mice,keyboards, game controls), access (e.g. probe request/response), networkselection (e.g. probe requests, Access Network Query Protocol (ANQP))and network management (e.g. control frames).

MU features, such as uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) OrthogonalFrequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and UL and DL MU-MIMO, may beimplemented in 802.11ax. OFDMA may exploit channel selectivity, forexample, to improve or maximize frequency selective multiplexing gain indense network conditions. A mechanism may be designed and defined forfeedback, for example, to enable fast link adaptation, frequencyselective scheduling and resource unit based feedback.

OFDMA numerology for HEW may be provided. OFDMA building blocks may be,for example, 20 MHz, 40 MHz and 80 MHz.

FIG. 2 is an example of OFDMA numerology 200 for a 20 MHz buildingblock. A 20 MHz OFDMA building block may be defined, for example, as26-tone with 2 pilots, 52-tone with 4 pilots and 106-tone with 4 pilots.As an example, there may be 7 DC Nulls and (6,5) guard tones (e.g., 6guard tones on the left hand side and 5 guard tones on the right handside), for example, at locations shown in FIG. 2. An OFDMA PPDU maycarry a mix of different tone unit sizes within a 242 tone unitboundary.

FIG. 3 is an example of OFDMA numerology 300 for a 40 MHz buildingblock. A 40 MHz OFDMA building block may be defined, for example, as26-tone with 2 pilots, 52-tone with 4 pilots, 106-tone with 4 pilots and242-tone with 8 pilots. As an example, there may be 5 DC Nulls and(12,11) guard tones, for example, at locations shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is an example of OFDMA numerology 400 for an 80 MHz buildingblock. An 80 MHz OFDMA building block may be defined, for example, as26-tone with 2 pilots, 52-tone with 4 pilots, 106-tone with 4 pilots,242-tone with 8 pilots and 484-tone with 16 pilots. As an example, theremay be 7 DC Nulls and (12,11) guard tones, for example, at locationsshown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 is an example of a Resource Unit (RU) 502 in an example OFDMAnumerology 500 for an 80 MHz building block. A RU (e.g., such as RU 502)may include a collection of frequency resources. A frequency resourcemay include one or more subcarriers and/or one or more tones. Thecollection of frequency resources may include time and/or spaceallocations. A RU may be determined based on (e.g., to account for) aminimum feedback granularity of less than a particular bandwidth, suchas 20 MHz for example. A RU may include one or more tones that areallocated over a particular space/frequency block of the OFDMAnumerology.

FIG. 6 is an example interleaver and tone mapper for OFDMA 600, e.g.,for TGax.

IEEE 802.11 may support MCS feedback and/or CSI feedback. In MCSfeedback, a STA may send back MCS, SNR and/or a number of space timestreams (N_STS). The STA may send the MCS, SNR, and/or N_STS unsolicitedor based on a request. In CSI feedback, the STA may send back explicitfeedback of a channel. The explicit feedback may include one or morecoefficients. For example, the explicit feedback may include one or moreof actual channel coefficients, non-compressed BF coefficients,compressed BF coefficients, or STS SNR. The one or more coefficients maybe compressed based on a Givens rotation.

CSI feedback in IEEE 802.11 TGax may allow for a minimum feedbackgranularity of less than 20 MHz.

Interleaver design for multiple RU allocation may be provided. Theinterleaver design may include a plurality of interleavers. OFDMA RUsizes (e.g., 802.11ax OFDMA RU sizes) may include one or more of: 26,52, 106, 242, 484, or 996×½ tones. If one RU is allocated (e.g.,allocated to a STA for a transmission), the interleaver and tone mappershown in FIG. 6 may be used. If multiple RUs are allocated, the BCCinterleaver and LDPC tone mapper, as shown in FIG. 6, may need to bemodified (e.g., because the total size of multiple RUs allocated to oneuser may not have been considered). For example, if 3 RUs of size 26tones are allocated, the total transmission size is 78 tones. Theinterleaver and tone mapper shown in FIG. 6 may not support atransmission size of 78 tones and modified interleaver and/or tonemapper designs may be provided. The multiple RUs may be contiguously ornon-contiguously allocated. Efficient interleaving for contiguous ornon-contiguous RU allocation may be provided (e.g., to improve frequencydiversity gain).

Signaling and feedback for contiguous/non-contiguous RU allocation maybe provided. MCS and CSI feedback from a STA to an AP, or APs, may besolicited or unsolicited. The MCS and CSI feedback may be sent backimmediately, or after a delay. CSI feedback may allow for a minimumfeedback granularity of less than 20 MHz (e.g., for 802.11ax). Efficientsignaling and feedback may reduce signal overhead. Contiguous and/ornon-contiguous RU allocation may reduce signal overhead. RU arrangementand/or configuration (e.g., in IEEE 802.11ax) may introduce constraintsinto the scheduling algorithms.

Interleaver design for multiple RU allocation may be provided. Themultiple RU allocation may be contiguous and/or non-contiguous. One ormore independent interleavers may be used for the multiple RUallocation. Each of the one or more independent interleavers may be usedfor each of the multiple RUs allocated. One or more joint interleaversmay be provided for contiguous or non-contiguous multiple RU allocation(e.g., to achieve better frequency diversity gain).

A joint interleaver for multiple RU allocation may be provided. When atotal number of tones of the multiple allocated RUs is equal to one ofthe RU sizes from the OFDMA RU sizes as shown in FIG. 6, the exampleinterleaver and tone mapper for OFDMA may be used for the multiple RUallocation. For example, if a STA is allocated two 26-tone RUs, theinterleaver design for BCC or tone mapper for LDPC for RU (tones)=52 maybe used for the allocation of the two 26-tone RUs. A frequency parsermay map the jointly interleaved data stream to the tones in the multipleRUs. Aggregation of contiguous or non-contiguous RUs may be restrictedto RU sizes that add up to an existing RU size.

When the total number of tones of the multiple allocated RUs does notequal one of the OFDMA RU sizes as shown in FIG. 6 (e.g., if a STA isallocated 3 26 tone RUs=78 RU tones, there is no interleaver design forRU size=78 tones), a joint interleaver for BCC and/or a tone mapper forLDPC may be provided.

FIG. 7 is an example transmitter 700 with a joint interleaver formultiple RU allocation. The example transmitter 700 may be a networkdevice such as an AP, for example. A joint interleaver design for BCCmay be provided for multiple RU allocation of a transmission (e.g., atransmission of data to a STA). A transmission of data for a user mayinclude interleaving. The transmission of data for a user (e.g., STA)may include a multiple RU allocation. For example, the data may be sentto the STA using multiple RUs. A network device (e.g., such as an AP)may scramble 702 the data. The scrambled data may be encoded (e.g., by aBCC encoder 704, as shown). An output of the BCC encoder 704 may includean encoded bit stream. The output of the BCC encoder may be sent to aspatial stream parser 706. The spatial stream parser 706 may parse theencoded bit stream into a plurality of spatial streams. An output of thespatial stream parser may be sent to a joint interleaver 708, 710. Thejoint interleaver 708, 710 may interleave the input encoded bits of theplurality of spatial streams, received from the spatial stream parser706 according to the example joint interleaver shown in FIG. 6. Anoutput of the joint interleaver 708, 710 may be sent to a QAM mapper712, 714. The QAM mapper 712, 714 may form one or more symbols. Anoutput of the QAM mapper 712, 714 may be sent to a space-time blockencoder 716. An output of the space-time block encoder 716 may be sentto a spatial mapper 718 (e.g., for antenna mapping). An output of thespatial mapper 718 (e.g., the symbols) may be sent to multiple RUs 724,726, 728, 730 through one or more frequency parsers 720, 722. A receiver(e.g., a STA) may perform interleaving and/or the multiple RU allocationin reverse order than the network device (e.g., to decode thetransmitted data).

One or more (e.g., two or three) permutations may be performed in thejoint interleaver 708, 710. A first permutation (e.g., first interleaverpermutation) may ensure that adjacent encoded bits are mapped ontonon-adjacent subcarriers. A second permutation (e.g., second interleaverpermutation) may ensure that adjacent encoded bits are mappedalternately onto more and less significant bits. The second permutationmay be configured to avoid long runs of low reliability bits. If morethan one spatial stream is adopted for a transmission, a thirdpermutation (e.g., a frequency rotation) may be performed for theadditional spatial streams.

A spatial stream may include M contiguous and/or non-contiguous RUs. ARU may comprise N_(sd) ^(m) (1≤m≤M) data tones. The M contiguous and/ornon-contiguous RUs may be scheduled for one user transmission. Thenumber of data tones may be defined as N=Σ_(m=1) ^(M)N_(sd) ^(m). Foreach OFDMA symbol, x^(i) ^(ss) =[x₀ ^(i) ^(ss) , x₁ ^(i) ^(ss) , . . . ,x_(L-1) ^(i) ^(ss) ] may denote the input coded bits sent to the jointinterleaver 708, 710 for the interleaving operation in the spatialstream i_(ss) (1≤i_(ss)≤N_(ss)), where L=N×N_(BPSCS). N_(BPSCS) maydefine the number of coded bits per single carrier for each spatialstream. An output bit of the first interleaver permutation, w_(i) ^(i)^(ss) , may be defined as

w_(i)^(i_(ss)) = x_(k)^(i_(ss))$i = {{c \cdot N_{BPSCS} \cdot \left( {k\;{mod}\; N_{col}} \right)} + \left\lfloor \frac{k}{N_{col}} \right\rfloor}$where k=0, 1, . . . , L−1, c, N_(col) are two positive integers suchthat c×N_(col)=N. The output bit of the second interleaver permutation,y_(j) ^(i) ^(ss) , may be a function of the output of the firstinterleaver permutation, w_(i) ^(i) ^(ss) . The output bit of the secondinterleaver permutation, y_(j) ^(i) ^(ss) , may be defined as

y_(j)^(i_(ss)) = w_(i)^(i_(ss))$j = {{s\left\lfloor \frac{i}{s} \right\rfloor} + {\left( {i + L - \left\lfloor \frac{N_{col} \cdot i}{L} \right\rfloor} \right){mod}\; s}}$where i=0, 1, . . . , L−1, and

$s = {\max{\left\{ {1,\frac{N_{BPSCS}}{2}} \right\}.}}$A third permutation may be performed (e.g., if more than one spatialstream is present).

If 2≤N_(ss)≤4, a frequency rotation may be applied to the output of thesecond permutation y_(j) ^(i) ^(ss) as follows

z_(r)^(i_(ss)) = y_(j)^(i_(ss))$r = {\left\{ {j - {\left\lbrack {{\left( {2\left( {i_{ss} - 1} \right)} \right){mod}\; 3} + {3\left\lfloor \frac{i_{ss} - 1}{3} \right\rfloor}} \right\rbrack \cdot N_{rot} \cdot N_{BPSCS}}} \right\}{mod}\; L}$where j=0, 1, . . . , L−1, and N_(rot) may be a positive integer.

If N_(ss)>4, a frequency rotation may be applied to the output of thesecond permutation y_(j) ^(i) ^(ss) as followsz _(r) ^(i) ^(ss) =y _(j) ^(i) ^(ss)r={j−J(i _(ss))·N _(rot) ·N _(BPSCS)} mod LWhere j=0, 1, . . . , L−1, N_(rot) may be a positive integer, andJ(i_(ss)) may be a function of i_(ss) which may be an integer value.

At the receiver, a joint de-interleaver may be used to perform one ormore inverse permutation operations. A first inverse operation mayreverse the third frequency rotation permutation of the jointinterleaver. z′^(i) ^(ss) =[z₀ ^(i) ^(ss) , z₁ ^(i) ^(ss) , . . .z_(L-1) ^(i) ^(ss) ] may represent the input bits of the jointde-interleaver in the spatial stream i_(ss) (1≤i_(ss)≤N_(ss)).

When N_(ss)=1, y′_(j) ^(i) ^(ss) =z′_(r) ^(i) ^(ss) , j=r, where r=0, 1,. . . , L−1. If 2≤N_(ss)≤4, a reversal operation may be performed asfollows,

y_(j)^(′ i_(ss)) = z_(r)^(′ i_(ss))$j = {\left\{ {r + {\left\lbrack {{\left( {2\left( {i_{ss} - 1} \right)} \right){{mod}3}} + {3\left\lfloor \frac{i_{ss} - 1}{3} \right\rfloor}} \right\rbrack \cdot N_{rot} \cdot N_{BPSCS}}} \right\}{mod}\; L}$where r=0, 1, . . . , L−1 and N_(rot) may be a positive integer whichmay take the same value as the interleaving operation at thetransmitter.

When N_(ss)>4, a reversal operation may be performed as followsy′ _(j) ^(i) ^(ss) =z′ _(r) ^(i) ^(ss)j={r+J(i _(ss))·N _(rot) ·N _(BPSCS)} mod Lwhere r=0, 1, . . . , L−1. N_(rot) may be a positive integer andJ(i_(ss)) may be a function of i_(ss). N_(rot) and/or J(i_(ss)) may takethe same values as the interleaving operation at the transmitter.

A second inverse operation may reverse the second permutation of thejoint interleaver as follows,

w_(i)^(′ i_(ss)) = y_(j)^(′ i_(ss))$i = {{s\left\lfloor \frac{j}{s} \right\rfloor} + {\left( {j + \left\lfloor \frac{j \cdot N_{col}}{L} \right\rfloor} \right){{mod}s}}}$where  j = 0, 1, … , L − 1.

A third inverse operation may reverse the first permutation of the jointinterleaver as follows,

x_(k)^(′ i_(ss)) = w_(i)^(′ i_(ss))$k = {{i \cdot N_{col}} - {\left( {L - 1} \right)\left\lfloor \frac{i}{c \cdot N_{BPSCS}} \right\rfloor}}$

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter 800 with a jointLDPC tone mapper for multiple RU allocation. The example transmitter 800may be a network device such as an AP, for example. A reverse tonemapping operation may be performed by a joint LDPC tone de-mapper at areceiver (e.g., a receiving STA). Data may be sent to the receiver usingmultiple RUs. A network device (e.g., such as an AP) may scramble 802the data. The scrambled data may be encoded (e.g., by a LDPC encoder804, as shown). An output of the LDPC encoder 804 may include an encodedbit stream. The output of the LDPC encoder may be sent to a spatialstream parser 806. The spatial stream parser 806 may parse the encodedbit stream into a plurality of spatial streams. The plurality of spatialstreams may be sent to a QAM mapper 808, 810. The QAM mapper 808, 810may form one or more symbols. An output of the QAM mapper 808, 810 maybe sent to a joint LDPC tone mapper 812, 814. An output of the LDPC tonemapper 812, 814 may sent to a space-time block encoder 816. An output ofthe space-time block encoder 816 may be sent to a spatial mapper 818(e.g., for antenna mapping). An output of the spatial mapper 818 (e.g.,the symbols) may be sent to multiple RUs 824, 826, 828, 830 through oneor more frequency parsers 820, 822.

A spatial stream may comprise M contiguous and/or non-contiguous RUs. ARU may comprise N_(sd) ^(m) (1≤m≤M) data tones. The M contiguous and/ornon-contiguous RUs may be scheduled for a user transmission (e.g., forthe LDPC encoders). A number of data tones may be defined as N=Σ_(m=1)^(M)N_(sd) ^(m). The output of a QAM mapper may be defined as d_(k,l,n),k=0, 1, . . . , N−1, l=1, . . . , N_(ss), n=0, 1, . . . , N_(sym)−1. Thenumber of data tones in the RU, N_(sd) ^(m), may be the same ordifferent for each RU allocated to a STA. N may represent a total numberof data tones of the RUs allocated to the STA.

The joint LDPC tone mapper 812, 814 may permute the output of QAMmappers as

v_(t(k), l, n) = d_(k, l, n), k = 0, 1, … , N − 1, l = 1, … , N_(ss), n = 0, 1, … , N_(sym − 1)$\mspace{20mu}{{{{where}\mspace{14mu}{t(k)}} = {{D_{TM} \cdot \left( {{k{mod}}\mspace{14mu}\frac{N}{D_{TM}}} \right)} + \left\lfloor \frac{k \cdot D_{TM}}{N} \right\rfloor}},}$and D_(TM) may be a divisor of N. D_(TM) may be optimized (e.g., viasimulation). Two (e.g., every two) consecutively-generated complexconstellation numbers may be transmitted on two data subcarriers (e.g.,through the LDPC tone mapping operation and subcarrier allocation). Thetwo data subcarriers may be separated by at least D_(TM)−1 datasubcarriers.

At a receiver, a joint LDPC tone de-mapper may perform one or moreinverse (e.g., reverse) permutations. At each stream, the input symbolsof the joint LDPC tone de-mapper may be defined as v′_(k,l,n), k=0, 1, .. . , N−1, l=1, . . . , N_(ss), n=0, 1, . . . . , N_(sym)−1. The jointLDPC tone de-mapper may perform the inverse permutation as follows,

d_(k, l, n)^(′) = v_(t(k), l, n)^(′), k = 0, 1, … , N − 1, l = 1, … , N_(ss), n = 0, 1, … , N_(sym) − 1$\mspace{20mu}{{{where}\mspace{14mu}{t(k)}} = {{D_{TM} \cdot \left( {k\;{mod}\mspace{14mu}\frac{N}{D_{TM}}} \right)} + {\left\lfloor \frac{k \cdot D_{TM}}{N} \right\rfloor.}}}$

An interleaver design, for example as shown in FIG. 6, may be reusedwhen multiple contiguous and/or non-contiguous RUs are scheduled for auser transmission (e.g., to improve frequency diversity). Reusing theinterleaver design may reduce the implementation complexity (e.g., in aWLAN transceiver that is based on an earlier IEEE 802.11 specification).A multiplexed, parallel block interleaver may be provided. Themultiplexed, parallel block interleaver may be comprised of one or moreof the following components: a serial-to-parallel multiplexer, one ormore interleavers following the reused design, and/or aparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer.

FIG. 9 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter 900 with amultiplexed parallel block interleaver 912, 914. The example transmitter900 may be a network device such as an AP, for example. At the exampletransmitter 900, data for a transmission may be sent to a scrambler 902.Scrambled data may be sent to a BCC encoder 904. An output of the BCCencoder 904 may comprise an encoded bit stream. The output of the BCC904 encoder may be sent to a spatial stream parser 906. The spatialstream parser 906 may parse the encoded bit stream into a plurality ofspatial streams. An output of the spatial stream parser 906 may be sentto one or more serial-to-parallel multiplexers 908, 910. The one or moreserial-to-parallel multiplexers 908, 910 may allocate the encoded inputbits to multiple parallel interleavers 912, 914. The one or moreserial-to-parallel multiplexers 908, 910 may allocate the input bits ofthe encoded bit stream to the multiple parallel interleavers 912, 914,e.g., based on a pre-defined pattern. For example, the input bits of theencoded bit stream may be allocated to the multiple parallelinterleavers 912, 914 based on a RU configuration. The number ofparallel interleavers 912, 914 may equal the number of RUs allocated forthe transmission. Each of the parallel interleavers 912, 914 maycorrespond to a RU. For example, each of the parallel interleavers mayfollow the interleaver design, as shown in FIG. 6, for a correspondingRU.

An interleaver may interleave the input encoded bits, e.g., based on theinterleaver design, as shown in FIG. 6. An output of the multipleparallel interleavers 912, 914 may be sent to a parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer 916, 918. The parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer 916, 918may combine the outputs of the multiple parallel interleavers 912, 914into a bit stream. The parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer 916, 918 maycombine the outputs based on a pre-defined pattern. Theparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer 916, 918 may send an output to a QAMmapper 920, 922. The QAM mapper 920, 922 may form one or more symbolsfrom the combined outputs. The output of the QAM mapper 920, 922 may besent to a space-time block encoder 924. The space-time block encoder 924may operate on a per subcarrier basis. An output of the space-time blockencoder 924 may be sent to an antenna mapper 926. The antenna mapper 926may operate on a per subcarrier basis. After space-time encoding andantenna mapping, the one or more symbols may be sent to multiple RUs932, 934, 936, 938 through a frequency parser 928, 930. A receiver(e.g., a receiving STA) may perform a RU de-allocation in the reverse ofthe RU allocation performed at the transmitter.

A multiplexed parallel block interleaver may be configured for multipleequal size RU allocation. One or more parallel interleavers for a user(e.g., STA) may be identical. The one or more parallel interleavers maybe based on the interleaver design shown in FIG. 6. M contiguous and/ornon-contiguous RUs may comprise N_(sd) data tones. The M contiguousand/or non-contiguous RUs may be scheduled for a transmission (e.g., aparticular user transmission). The length of one or more input bits(e.g., for each OFDMA symbol) to a multiplexed parallel blockinterleaver may be defined as L=MN_(Sd)N_(BPSCS). The one or more inputbits may be defined as b=[b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(L-1)]. A serial-to-parallelmultiplexer may allocate (e.g., uniformly allocate) the encoded bits tomultiple interleavers. When the serial-to-parallel multiplexer uniformlyallocates the encoded bits, the input of an interleaver m (1≤m≤M) may bedefined as follows:

${x_{m,i} = b_{{iM} + m - 1}},{{{where}\mspace{14mu} i} = 0},1,\ldots\;,{\frac{L}{M} - 1.}$

L/M may represent the size of the m^(th) parallel interleaver. The inputbits may be interleaved based on the interleaver design shown in FIG. 6.The output of a parallel interleaver m (1≤m≤M) may be represented as

$y_{m} = {\left\lbrack {y_{m,1},y_{m,2},\ldots\;,y_{m,{\frac{L}{M} - 1}}} \right\rbrack.}$The outputs of the multiple parallel interleavers may be sent to aparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer. The parallel-to-serial de-multiplexermay determine a bit stream. The parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer maydetermine the bit stream by combining the output of multiple parallelinterleavers. The parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may use differentcombining patterns. The output of the parallel-to-serial de-multiplexermay be defined as follows:z _(l) =y _(m,i),where l=(m−1)L/M+i, i=0, 1, . . . ,

${\frac{L}{M} - 1},$and m=1, 2, . . . , M. l may represent an index of the output of theparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer. For example, the outputs of themultiple parallel interleavers may be combined into one sequence z=[y₁,y₂, . . . , y_(M)]. y_(m), may represent a row vector of length (L/M).y_(m) may indicate an output sequence of the m^(th) parallelinterleaver. The output of the parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may besent to a QAM mapper. The QAM mapper may form symbols based on theparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer output. The output of the QAM mappermay be sent to a space-time block encoder. The output of the space-timeblock encoder may be sent to an antenna mapper. After space-timeencoding and antenna mapping, the symbols may be mapped (e.g., uniformlymapped) to one or more subcarriers of one or more RUs scheduled for atransmission (e.g., a particular user's transmission).

FIG. 10 is a diagram depicting an example data flow 1000 for multipleequal-size RU allocation. A bit stream of data 1002 may flow through oneor more modules (e.g., key modules) of a transmitter, such as thetransmitter shown in FIG. 9. The bit stream of data 1002 may compriseone or more (e.g., 8) blocks of data. The one or more blocks of data maybe allocated to different interleavers. The values a,b in a frequencyparser may define a QAM symbol (e.g., such as QPSK) made up of bits aand b. A receiver data flow may be the reverse of the transmitter dataflow shown in FIG. 10. The example data flow shown in FIG. 10 mayillustrate the exemplary multiplexing and/or de-multiplexing operations.Other operations shown in the example of FIG. 10 may be simplified.

Example simulation results may be provided herein. A non-OFDMA case maydetermine a baseline. The baseline may be used to demonstrate theperformance of a multiplexed parallel block interleaver. In thenon-OFDMA case, a RU with the largest size for the considered bandwidthmay be allocated. The RU may use the interleaver design shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 11 is a diagram depicting an example of OFDMA numerology for a 20MHz building block, such as for example FIG. 2, with 5 highlightednon-contiguous RUs 1102. The 5 highlighted non-contiguous RUs 1102 maycomprise 26 tones. The 5 highlighted non-contiguous RUs 1102 may bescheduled for a transmission (e.g., one user transmission). A spatialstream may be used for the transmission. An MCS (e.g., 7) may be adoptedfor the transmission. The payload length for the transmission may be1000 bytes. The PER performance for the multiplexed parallel blockinterleaver and the non-OFDMA case may be represented as shown in FIG.12 through FIG. 15 for TG-B, TG-D, Umi-LOS and Umi-NLOS channels,respectively. For indoor TG-B and TG-D channels, the CP length may beset as 800 ns. For outdoor Umi-LOS and Umi-NLOS channels, the CP lengthmay be set as 3200 ns. A multiplexed parallel block interleaver with 5RU allocation may achieve equivalent PER performance as the non-OFDMAcase corresponding to 9 RU allocation. The multiplexed parallel blockinterleaver may harvest the full-bandwidth frequency diversity gain.

A multiplexed parallel block interleaver for multiple unequal-size RUallocations may be provided. The interleaving operation for anunequal-size RU allocation may be similar to the interleaving operationfor an equal-size RU allocation. The interleaving operation for anunequal-size RU allocation may include a serial-to-parallel multiplexer(e.g., due to the unequal RU sizes). The interleaving operation for anunequal-size RU allocation may include a parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer (e.g., due to the unequal RU sizes).

In a spatial stream, M contiguous and/or non-contiguous RUs may compriseN_(sd) ^(m) (1≤m≤M) data tones. The M contiguous and/or non-contiguousRUs may be scheduled for a transmission (e.g., one user transmission).For each OFDMA symbol, the length of one or more input bits to amultiplexed parallel block interleaver may be represented as L=Σ_(m=1)^(M)N_(sd) ^(m)×N_(BPSCS). The one or more input bits may be defined asb=[b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(L-1)]. The number of data tones may be defined asN=Σ_(m=1) ^(M)N_(sd) ^(m). A serial-to-parallel multiplexer may allocatethe encoded bits to multiple parallel interleavers. Theserial-to-parallel multiplexer may adopt one or more allocationpatterns. A greatest common divisor (GCD) of N_(sd) ^(m) (m=1, 2, . . ., M) may be represented as D, and may define

$C_{m} = {\frac{N_{sd}^{m}}{N}.}$The input of interleaver m (1≤m≤M) may be defined as follows:

x_(m, i) = b_(t), i = 0, 1, … , q_(m) − 1 where$t = {{\left\lfloor \frac{i}{C_{m}} \right\rfloor{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{M}C_{j}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{m - 1}C_{j}} + {i\;{mod}\; C_{m}}}$and $q_{m} = {{\frac{N_{sd}^{m}}{N}L} = {N_{sd}^{m}N_{BPSCS}}}$Note that q_(m) may represent the size of the m^(th) interleaver.

For an interleaver, the input bits may be interleaved following theinterleaver design shown in FIG. 6. The output of the m^(th) (1≤m≤M)interleaver may be defined as y_(m)=[y_(m,0), y_(m,1), . . . , y_(m,q)_(m) ⁻¹]. The outputs of the multiple parallel interleavers may be sentto a parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer. The parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer may combine the outputs of the multiple parallelinterleavers to form one bit stream. One or more combining patterns maybe adopted by the parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer. The output of theparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may be defined as follows:z _(l) =y _(m,i),where l=(Σ_(p=1) ^(m−1) q _(p) +i), i=0, 1, . . . , q _(m)−1, and m=1,2, . . . M.

l may represent an index of the output of the parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer. For example, the outputs of the multiple parallelinterleavers may be combined into one sequence. The combined sequencemay be represented by z=[y₁, y₂, . . . , y_(M)]. y_(m) may represent arow vector of length q_(m). The row vector may indicate an outputsequence of the m^(th) interleaver. The output of the parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer may be sent to a QAM mapper. The QAM mapper may form oneor more symbols based on the parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer output.The output of the QAM mapper may be sent to a space-time block encoder.The output of the space-time block encoder may be sent to an antennamapper. After space-time encoding and antenna mapping, the one or moresymbols may be mapped (e.g., uniformly mapped) to the subcarriers of theRUs scheduled for the transmission (e.g., transmit user).

FIG. 16 is a diagram depicting an example data flow 1600 for a multipleunequal-size RU allocation for a data transmission. A bit stream of data1602 may flow through one or more modules (e.g., key modules) of atransmitter (e.g., such as the example transmitter shown in FIG. 9). Thebit stream of data 1602 may include one or more (e.g., 12) blocks ofdata. The values a, b in the frequency parser may define a QAM symbol(e.g., QPSK). The QAM symbol may comprise bits a and b. RU3 and RU4 maybe twice the size of RU1 and RU2, respectively. A receiver data flow maybe the reverse of the transmitter data flow shown in FIG. 16. Theexample data flow shown in FIG. 16 may illustrate the multiplexingand/or de-multiplexing operations. Other operations shown in the exampledata flow of FIG. 16 may be simplified.

A controlled multiplexed parallel block interleaver may be provided forcontiguous and/or non-contiguous multiple RU allocation. Controlinformation (e.g., RU-based CSI information) may be available. Atransmitter may control a multiplexed parallel block interleaver usingthe control information. For example, the transmitter may adapt the MCSon a per RU basis, based on the control information. The transmitter mayadapt a modulation (e.g., if the same coding rate is assumed) on a perRU basis, based on the control information. The control information maybe used in a multiplexed parallel block interleaver, a MIMO scheme,and/or a frequency parser.

A multiplexed parallel block interleaver may support a different MCS ona per RU basis. The MIMO scheme and/or a physical RU allocation may becontrolled on a per RU basis.

FIG. 17 illustrates example transmitting device features 1700, includinga controlled multiplexed parallel block interleaver for multiple RUallocation. The example transmitting device may be a network device suchas an AP, for example. The example transmitting device features 1700 mayinclude a control function that enables the multiplexed parallel blockinterleaver. The control function may be provided by a controller 1702.The controller 1702 may receive channel related feedback information asan input. The channel related feedback information may be received bythe example transmitter. The channel related feedback information mayindicate a channel condition on one or more RUs given the systembandwidth (e.g., RU-based CSI and/or SINR information). The exampletransmitter may receive RU usage, RU load, RU sizes, one or more RUindices, QoS, traffic priorities, and/or traffic classes to control themultiplexed parallel block interleaver. For example, the controller 1702may receive RU usage and/or load as an input. The controller 1702 mayreceive RU Indices as an input. The controller 1702 may receive QoS fortraffic allocated to different RUs as an input. The controller 1702 mayreceive one or more traffic priorities and/or traffic classes as aninput.

The controller 1702 may output one or more control signals (e.g.,control signals A 1710, B 1716, C 1726, and D 1722 as shown in FIG. 17),which may include one or more of the outputs described herein. Theoutput of the controller 1702 (e.g., control signal A 1710) may indicatehow to split the input bits between different interleavers, e.g., basedon the RU configuration. For example, the example transmitter maydetermine how to allocate the input bits based on the RU configuration.A RU-size based parser 1708 may allocate the input bits based on thedetermined allocation. The output of the controller 1702 (e.g., controlsignal B 1716) may include a first M×1 vector. The control signal B 1716(e.g., the size of control signal B 1716) may correspond to the numberof RUs configured per transmit chain. The same number of RUs may beconfigured for multiple transmit chain (e.g., if MIMO scheme isapplied). The first M×1 vector may indicate one or more modulationimplementations for different RUs. The example transmitter may map 1714the input bits to one or more constellation points based on theindicated modulation implementations. For example, with the CSI feedbackinformation, a transmitter may use different MCSs for different RUs. Fora RU with a good channel condition, a transmitter may use a high orderMCS (e.g., to improve the throughput). For a RU with a bad channelcondition, the example transmitter may use a low order MCS (e.g., toimprove the PER performance). A flexible tradeoff between throughputperformance and PER performance may be obtained by per-RU based MCSadaption enabled by feedback (e.g., channel related feedbackinformation). One or more scheduled RUs may be assumed to use the samecoding rate with different modulation types or orders (e.g., to minimizecomplexity). The output of the controller 1702 (e.g., control signal C1726) may include a N_(TX)×1 vector. The N_(TX)×1 vector may indicateone or more RUs to be used. Different transmitters may use differentphysical RUs. A frequency parser 1724 may use the N_(TX)×1 vector tosend the data to the indicated RUs. The output of the controller 1702(e.g., control signal D 1722) may include a second M×1 vector. Thesecond M×1 vector may indicate one or more MIMO schemes to be used foreach RU. Control signal D 1722 (e.g., the size of control signal D 1722)may correspond to a maximum number of RUs crossing multiple transmitchains (e.g., where the same or different MIMO schemes apply).

The example transmitter shown in FIG. 17 may perform one or more of thefollowing: an interleaving operation 1712, a MIMO scheme selection, or asubcarrier allocation for the example transmitter and associatedreceiver with controlled multiplexed parallel block interleavers. Datafor transmission to a receiver (e.g., a STA) may be scrambled 1703 andsent to a BCC encoder 1704. The BCC encoder 1704 may generate an encodedbit stream. The output of the BCC encoder 1704 (e.g., the encoded bitstream) may be sent to a spatial stream parser 1706. The spatial streamparser 1706 may parse the encoded bits of the encoded bit stream to aplurality of spatial streams. The encoded bits of the encoded bit streammay be parsed into a plurality of spatial streams based on RU size. Anoutput of the spatial stream parser (e.g., the plurality of spatialstreams) may be sent to a RU-size based parser 1708 after spatial streamparsing. The RU-size based parser 1708 may be controlled by a controlsignal (e.g., control signal A 1710). For example, the transmitter maydetermine how to allocate the input bits between a plurality ofinterleavers. Control signal A 1710 may be used to indicate to theRU-size based parser 1708 how to split the input bits between differentinterleavers based on the RU configuration (e.g., the size ofconfigurable RU), the MCS, and/or the modulation order (e.g., ifassuming the same coding rate). The RU-size based parser 1708 mayallocate the input bits to a plurality of interleavers based on theindication of how to split the input bits.

An interleaver 1712 may interleave the input encoded bits based on theinterleaver design shown in FIG. 6. The outputs of the interleaver 1712may be sent to a QAM mapper 1714. The QAM mapper 1714 may form one ormore symbols. In the controlled multiplexed parallel block interleavers,different interleavers (e.g., for different RUs) may use differentmodulation orders. Multiple QAM mappers 1714 may be included in themultiplexed parallel block interleaver. Each of the multiple QAM mappers1714 may serve a corresponding interleaver. The RUs adopting the sameMCS may be equivalent to placing a QAM mapper (e.g., a single QAMmapper) after the multiplexed parallel block interleaver, as discussedherein.

When space-time encoding and/or spatial mapping is enabled, a STBCencoder 1718 may spread one or more constellation points from one ormore spatial streams into one or more space-time streams. The STBCencoder 1718 may spread the one or more constellation points using aspace-time block code. A spatial mapper 1720 may map the one or morespace-time streams to one or more transmit chains. The space-timeencoding and/or antenna mapping operation may be performed on a per-RUbasis. The space-time encoding and/or antenna mapping may be controlledby a control signal (e.g., signal D 1722). Control signal D 1722 may berepresented as a M×1 vector. Control signal D 1722 may indicate one ormore MIMO schemes for each RU. The one or more MIMO schemes may includeprecoding and/or beamforming. Different RUs may use the same ordifferent MIMO schemes. The example transmitter may select a MIMO schemefor each RU associated with the transmission based on the one or moreMIMO schemes indicated. The space-time block encoding may be performedbased on the selected MIMO schemes. When the same MIMO scheme isselected for different RUs, the NC spatial streams may correspond to thesame or different (e.g., Nss=2 STBC) RU location. Nss spatial streamswith the same size may be coded by the same space-time encoder and/orspatial mapper.

After space-time encoding and/or antenna mapping, the symbols may besent to multiple RUs through a frequency parser 1724 based on a controlsignal (e.g., control signal C 1726). Control signal C 1726 may indicatewhich RUs should be used for each transmitting antenna. For example, thetransmitter may determine which RUs should be used on a per transmitchain (e.g., transmitter antenna) basis based on CSI feedbackinformation. Different transmit chains may use the same or differentphysical RUs. For a transmit chain, multiple contiguous and/ornon-contiguous physical RUs may be allocated to one or more users.

FIG. 18 is a chart depicting an example performance between contiguousand non-contiguous RU allocations. Non-contiguous RU allocations (e.g.,labeled as “NC”) may be enabled by control signal C. The non-contiguousRU allocations may provide better performance over contiguous RUallocations (e.g., labeled as “C”).

FIG. 19 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter 1900 withmultiplexed parallel block interleaver for multiple RU prior to spatialmultiplexing. The example transmitter 1900 may be a network device suchas an AP, for example. A transmitter structure (e.g., such as thetransmitter of FIG. 17) may be modified by swapping the order of spatialstream parsing and RU stream parsing. For example, the encoded bitstream may be allocated 1902 to a plurality of interleavers 1904 and maybe interleaved before being parsed 1906 into a plurality of spatialstreams. The modified transmitter 1900 may need one set of Minterleavers.

FIG. 20 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter 2000 withmultiplexed parallel block interleaver for multiple RU and multi-userallocation. The transmitters disclosed herein may be extended tomultiple user cases (e.g., a two user scenario). In a multiple usercase, one or more control parameters (e.g., as shown in FIG. 17) may beset on a per user basis. A first data transmission 2002 associated witha first user may allocate the encoded bits of the first datatransmission 2002 to a plurality of interleavers (e.g., using one ormore first RU-size based parsers after spatial stream parsing), QAM map,and/or space-time block code the data based on one or more first controlparameters. A second data transmission 2004 associated with a seconduser may allocate the encoded bits of the second data transmission 2004to a plurality of interleavers (e.g., using one or more second RU-sizebased parsers after spatial stream parsing), QAM map, and/or space-timeblock code the data based on one or more second control parameters.

FIG. 21 is a diagram depicting an example transmitter 2100 with a singlestream parallel block interleaver for multiple RU allocation. The bitsfor the spatial streams may be interleaved together. The exampletransmitter 2100 shown in FIG. 21 may comprise one or more of thefollowing components: a serial-to-parallel multiplexer 2104, multipleinterleavers 2106, and a parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer 2108. Aspatial stream parser 2110 may be used after the interleavers 2106 andparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer 2108. The spatial stream parser 2110may separate interleaved bits to different spatial streams. A space-timeblock encoder may be optional. For example, the space-time block encodermay be skipped in the transmission process depending on the mode oftransmission.

At the transmitter, for each STA the interleaving and multiple RUallocation operations may include one or more of the following. Anoutput of an encoder (e.g., a BCC encoder) may be sent to aserial-to-parallel multiplexer. The serial-to-parallel multiplexer mayallocate one or more input bits to multiple parallel interleavers. Theserial-to-parallel multiplexer may allocate the one or more input bitsbased on a pre-defined pattern. The number of interleavers may equal thenumber of RUs allocated for the transmission (e.g., the transmit user).An interleaver design may follow the design for a corresponding RU. Theinterleaver design may be modified. For example, the interleaversN_(row) parameter may be modified as follows,N _(row_ss) =N _(row) *N _(ss)

Each interleaver may interleave the one or more input encoded bits. Forexample, each interleaver may interleave the one or more input encodedbits using the interleaver design parameters shown in FIG. 6. Theinterleaver design may be based on code types other than BCC and LDPC.The output of the interleavers may be sent to a parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer. The parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may combine theoutputs of multiple interleavers into one bit stream. Theparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may combine the outputs based on apredefined pattern. The combined output stream from theparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may be parsed into multiple spatialstreams by a spatial stream parser. Each of the multiple spatial streamsmay be mapped to a constellation symbol by a QAM mapper (e.g.,separately).

The output of the QAM mapper may be sent to a space-time block encoder.The output of the space-time block encoder may be sent to an antennamapper. After space-time encoding and antenna mapping, the symbols maybe sent to multiple RUs through a frequency parser. The receiver dataflow may be the reverse of the transmitter data flow shown in FIG. 21.

Single stream parallel block interleaver for multiple equal-size RUallocation may be provided. The multiple interleavers for a transmission(e.g., a transmit user) may be identical and may follow the interleaverdesign shown in FIG. 6.

M contiguous and/or non-contiguous RUs with N_(sd) data tones may bescheduled for a transmission (e.g., one user transmission). For eachOFDMA symbol, the length of one or more input bits to the multiplexedparallel block interleaver may be represented as MN_(sd)N_(BPSCS)N_(ss).The one or more input bits may be represented as b=[b₀, b₁, . . . ,b_(L-1)]. A serial-to-parallel multiplexer may allocate (e.g., uniformlyallocate) the encoded bits to different interleavers. Theserial-to-parallel multiplexer may allocate the encoded bits based on apre-defined pattern. When the serial-to-parallel multiplexer performs auniform allocation, the input of an interleaver m (1≤m≤M) may be definedas follows:

x_(m, i) = b_(iM + m − 1), where ${i = 0},1,\ldots\;,{\frac{L}{M} - 1.}$

In each interleaver, the one or more input bits may be interleaved basedon the interleaver design shown in FIG. 6. The output of the interleaverm (1≤m≤M) may be represented as

$y_{m} = {\left\lbrack {y_{m,1},y_{m,2},\ldots\;,y_{m,{\frac{L}{M} - 1}}} \right\rbrack.}$The outputs of the interleavers may be sent to a parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer. The parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may combine theoutputs of the interleavers to form one bit stream. The output of theparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may be defined as follows:

${z_{l} = y_{m,i}},{l = 0},1,\ldots\;,{L - 1},{i = 0},1,\ldots\;,{\frac{L}{M} - 1}$where l = (m − 1)L/M + i

The outputs of the multiple interleavers may be combined into onesequence z=[y₁, y₂, . . . , y_(M)]. The output of the parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer may be sent to a spatial stream parser. The spatialstream parser may separate bits into L_(stream)=MN_(sd)N_(BPSCS) bits.The L_(stream)=MN_(sd)N_(BPSCS) bits may be mapped to constellations.After an optional space-time encoding and/or antenna mapping, thesymbols may be mapped (e.g., uniformly mapped) to the subcarriers of theRUs scheduled for the transmitting STA.

A single stream parallel block interleaver for multiple unequal-size RUallocation may be provided. The serial-to-parallel multiplexer andparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer designs may be modified (e.g., due tothe unequal RU sizes).

M contiguous and/or non-contiguous RUs and N_(ss) streams may bescheduled for a transmission (e.g., one user transmission). A RU maycomprise N_(sd) ^(m) (1≤m≤M) data tones. For each OFDMA symbol, thelength of one or more input bits to the single stream parallel blockinterleaver may be defined as L=Σ_(m=1) ^(M)N_(sd) ^(m)×N_(BPSCS)N_(ss).The input bits may be represented as b=[b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(L-1)]. Thenumber of data tones may be defined as N=Σ_(m=1) ^(M)N_(sd) ^(m)N_(ss).A serial-to-parallel multiplexer may allocate the encoded bits todifferent interleavers. The greatest common divisor of N_(sd) ^(m) (m=1,2, . . . , M) may be represented as D, and

$C_{m} = {\frac{N_{sd}^{m}}{N}.}$The input of interleaver m (1≤m≤M) may be defined as follows:

x_(m, i) = b_(t), i = 0, 1, … , q_(m) − 1 where$t = {{\left\lfloor \frac{i}{C_{m}} \right\rfloor{\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{M}C_{j}}} + {\sum\limits_{j = 1}^{m - 1}C_{j}} + {{i{mod}}\; C_{m}}}$and${q_{m} = \frac{N_{sd}^{m}N_{ss}}{N}},{L = {N_{sd}^{m}N_{BPSCS}N_{ss}}}$

In each of the multiple interleavers, the one or more input bits may beinterleaved based on the interleaver design shown in FIG. 6. The outputof one of the multiple interleavers m (1≤m≤M) may be represented asy_(m)=[y_(m,0), y_(m,1), . . . , y_(m,q) _(m) ⁻¹]. The outputs of themultiple interleavers may be sent to a parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer. The parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may combine theoutputs of the multiple interleavers to form one bit stream. Theparallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may combing the outputs usingdifferent combining patterns (e.g., without loss of generality). Theoutput of the parallel-to-serial de-multiplexer may be defined asfollows:z _(l) =y _(m,i) ,l=0,1, . . . ,L−1,i=0,1, . . . ,q _(m)−1wherel=Σ _(p=1) ^(m−1) q _(p) +i

The outputs of the multiple interleavers may be combined into onesequence z=[y₁, y₂, . . . , y_(M)]. The output of the parallel-to-serialde-multiplexer may be sent to a spatial stream parser. The spatialstream parser may separate bits for each spatial stream. The separatedbits may be mapped to one or more constellations. After an optionalspace-time encoding and/or an optional antenna mapping, the symbols maybe mapped (e.g., uniformly mapped) to the subcarriers of the RUsscheduled for the transmitting STA. The single stream parallel blockinterleaver for multiple unequal-size RU allocation may take advantageof spatial diversity.

Signaling and feedback for contiguous and/or non-contiguous multiple RUallocation may be provided. A scheduler may perform one or morescheduling operations.

FIG. 22 is a diagram depicting an example scheduler 2200 with input andoutput parameters. The input parameters of a scheduling operation mayinclude one or more of the following: an instantaneous achievable ratetable, a RU map, or a rate request table. The input parameters mayenable efficient scheduling operations. A module may track a user'srate. The module may be included in the scheduler. The module mayprevent the users from starving for resources. The output of thescheduler may include an assignment table. The assignment table mayindicate an association between one or more RUs and one or more users.

An instantaneous achievable rate table may comprise one or more entries(e.g., a plurality of entries). Each of the plurality of entries mayindicate an instantaneous rate (e.g., if the user is assigned to asingle RU or multiple RUs). The scheduler may maximize an objectivefunction based on the instantaneous rate table and/or history associatedwith one or more users (e.g., an average rate). The instantaneous ratetable may be generated based on feedback information (e.g., SINR). Theinstantaneous rate table may be generated based on a feedbackgranularity after some non-linear conversions (e.g., Shannon capacityformula) or linear conversions (e.g., the sum/average of instantaneousrates in multiple RUs or scaling based on the number of subcarriers inRUs). The feedback granularity may be defined as a granularity of one ormore sub-channels each feedback element corresponds to. For example, afeedback granularity of 26 tones may indicate that each feedback SNRmaps to a 26-tone resource unit.

The RU map may comprise a data structure. The RU map may indicate theadjacency of RUs. The RU map may guide the scheduler to track one ormore constraints. One or more RUs configurations in the scheduler mayrequire that the RU map be provided as an input. For example, a set ofRUs scheduled to a user may include the OFDMA building blocks (e.g., theOFDMA building blocks defined in 802.11ax) due to its lower overhead(e.g., 18 OFDMA building blocks may be scheduled to a user for 20 MHzbandwidth.) The scheduler may determine that an assignment may narrowdown the set possible RUs (e.g., drastically). The scheduler maydetermine that the assignment may result in an inefficient use ofresources.

FIG. 23 is a diagram depicting an example tree structure 2300 of OFDMAbuilding blocks. As shown, when RU2 is assigned to a user, RU10, RU15,and RU18 may not be utilized for the others users in the currenttransmission. A data structure may find the blocked RUs due to anassignment. A data structure input to the scheduler may indicate theadjacency between RUs.

An RU map may be obtained in matrix-form. For example, in 802.11ax,OFDMA basic building blocks may be nodes of a tree structure asillustrated in FIG. 23. T∈

^(16×16) may define a matrix where the entry at nth row and mth columnof T is denoted by T_(n,m). The matrix may express the RU treestructure. The columns and rows of T may be labeled as {RU1, RU2, RU3,RU4, {RU5, RU12, RU16}, RU6, RU7, RU8, RU9, RU10, RU11, RU13, RU14,RU15, RU17, RU18} (e.g., in order). The RU tree structure may be definedas an adjacency matrix. For example, the RU tree structure may bedefined as T where the entries of T_(15,16), T_(14,16), T_(5,16),T_(13,15), T_(12,15), T_(11,14), T_(10,14), T_(9,13), T_(8,13),T_(7,12), T_(6,12), T_(4,11), T_(3,11), T_(2,10), and T_(1,10), are setto 1, otherwise 0. One or more of the following operation may beperformed to find the blocked RUs,b _(down) =T ^(k) a,andb _(up) =T ^(H) ^(k) a,where a may represent an assignment vector. The elements of theassignment vector may take their values from the set of {0,1}. Theassignment vector may indicate if the RU is assigned or not (e.g., ifa=[0 1 0 . . . 0], the second RU may be assigned to a user). k mayrepresent the order of the neighborhood of a node (e.g., the first orderneighborhood of RU10 consists of RU1, RU2, and RU15 for the exampleshown in FIG. 23). b_(up) and b_(down) may represent neighborhoodvectors. A neighborhood vector with one or more non-zero elements mayindicate one or more blocked nodes at kth order neighborhood. b_(up) mayindicate one or more blocked nodes above a scheduled node. b_(down) mayindicate one or more blocked nodes below the scheduled node. FIG. 24 isa diagram depicting an example tree structure 2400 of OFDMA buildingblocks.

A request rate table may comprise one or more user priorities, classesand/or rates for each user. The rate request table may be determinedbased on information send from each STA. For example, each STA may sendinformation on one or more priorities, one or more traffic classesand/or one or more minimum rates. Information sent by a STA may betraffic specific. Traffic specific information may be information sentwhen the STA has traffic to send. For example, traffic specificinformation may be sent in a traffic indication frame. The informationsent by the STA may be set to a default value. The default value may bebased on a user priority request/response frame exchange. An AP maydetermine a rate request table based on the last information sent by aSTA.

For uplink traffic, the AP may send a traffic request poll frame to oneor more (e.g., all) STAs in the BSS. A STA with traffic to send mayrespond to the traffic request with a traffic indicator frame. Thetraffic indicator frame may include information on a class of traffic, atraffic priority, a minimum rate required, and/or a minimum PERrequired. A STA may access an uplink OFDMA Random Access Channel (RACH)to send the traffic indicator frame.

For downlink traffic, the AP may determine (e.g., pre-negotiate) one ormore general traffic parameters with the STA. The AP may determine(e.g., infer) one or more traffic parameters from the traffic itself.The AP may populate the rate request table based on the one or moretraffic parameters.

A scheduler restriction in the RU map may determine the channel feedbacktype. The scheduler restriction may indicate a granularity needed by theAP from different STA receivers. For example, an AP may request channelfeedback within specific bands based on a current RU map from multipleSTAs that have indicated a desire to transmit information. In anotherexample, an AP may request feedback over the entire transmissionbandwidth but with a larger feedback granularity than usual based on therate table and/or RU map. In another example, an AP may request STAssending traffic requests to send (e.g., simultaneously send) channelfeedback information for one or more available RUs.

An AP may request specific band or granularity for feedback. The AP maydetermine the channel feedback type and/or feedback granularity for eachuser based on a RU map. The feedback granularity may include multipleRUs, single RUs or band information. The feedback granularity may bedetermined based on vector b_(down) and/or vector b_(up). The AP maysend a feedback-set frame to one or more corresponding STAs in the BSS.The feedback-set frame may include multiple users or a single user. Oneor more STAs may respond with an acknowledgement frame. The one or moreSTAs may respond with the feedback information.

The systems, methods, and instrumentalities described herein may applyin any combination, may apply to other wireless technologies, and forother services.

Although disclosed features, elements and techniques (e.g., disclosedtechnologies) are described in various examples with variouscombinations, each feature, element or technique may be implementedalone and in various combinations with and without other describedfeatures, elements and techniques.

Although examples are presented with respect to 802.11, the disclosedtechnologies may be applicable to other wireless systems and protocols.

Antenna mapping may be interchangeably used with spatial mapping.

Although disclosed features, elements and techniques (e.g., disclosedtechnologies) are presented with respect to supporting multiple RUallocation, the disclosed technologies are applicable to single RUallocation case when M is equal to 1.

A WTRU may refer to an identity of the physical device, or to the user'sidentity such as subscription related identities, e.g., MSISDN, SIP URI,etc. WTRU may refer to application-based identities, e.g., user namesthat may be used per application.

The processes described above may be implemented in a computer program,software, and/or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium forexecution by a computer and/or processor. Examples of computer-readablemedia include, but are not limited to, electronic signals (transmittedover wired and/or wireless connections) and/or computer-readable storagemedia. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), aregister, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic mediasuch as, but not limited to, internal hard disks and removable disks,magneto-optical media, and/or optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and/ordigital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with softwaremay be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in aWTRU, terminal, base station, RNC, and/or any host computer.

What is claimed:
 1. A method for use in an access point (AP), the methodcomprising: parsing an encoded bit stream into a plurality of spatialstreams; determining a configured size, in tones, of multiple resourceunits (RUs) for use in a transmission to a station (STA); allocating anumber of encoded bits from each of the plurality of spatial streams toa plurality of interleavers based on the configured size of the multipleRUs and channel related feedback information, wherein each of theplurality of interleavers is associated with at least one RU of themultiple RUs; interleaving the number of allocated encoded bits usingthe plurality of interleavers; and transmitting the multiple RUs to theSTA.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining one ormore modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) for the multiple RUs; andmapping, based on the one or more determined MCSs, the encoded bits ofthe plurality of spatial streams to constellation points.
 3. The methodof claim 2, further comprising: determining a multiple input multipleoutput (MIMO) scheme for each RU of the multiple RUs; determining aspace-time code based on the determined MIMO scheme for each RU;spreading, using the space-time code, the constellation points from theplurality of spatial streams into a plurality of space-time streams; andmapping the plurality of space-time streams to a plurality of transmitchains.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining whichRU of the multiple RUs should be used for each transmitting antenna; andallocating, to the STA based on the RU determination, the encoded bitsto one or more RUs of the multiple RUs.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein the encoded bit stream is parsed based on RU size.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the multiple RUs are one or more of contiguous ornon-contiguous with equal or unequal RU size.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the allocation of the encoded bits is further determined basedon one or more of an RU configuration associated with the transmission,a quality of service (QoS), or traffic priorities.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising combining the interleaved encoded bits fromthe plurality of interleavers into a sequenced bit stream.
 9. The methodof claim 1, wherein the plurality of interleavers used is equal to anamount of the multiple RUs allocated for the transmission, and whereineach of the plurality of interleavers corresponds to a corresponding RUof the multiple RUs.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprisingsending the transmission to the STA.
 11. An access point (AP)comprising: an antenna; and a processor operatively coupled to theantenna, the processor configured to parse an encoded bit stream into aplurality of spatial streams; the process further configured todetermine a configure size, in tones, of multiple resource units (RUs)for use in a transmission to a station (STA); the processor furtherconfigured to allocate a number of encoded bits from each of theplurality of spatial streams to a plurality of interleavers based on theconfigured size of the multiple RUs and channel related feedbackinformation, wherein each of the plurality of interleavers is associatedwith at least one RU of the multiple RUs; the processor furtherconfigured to interleave the encoded bits using the plurality ofinterleavers; and the processor and the antenna configured to transmitthe multiple RUs to the STA.
 12. The AP of claim 11, further configuredto: determine one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) for themultiple RUs; and map, based on the one or more determined MCSs, theencoded bits of the plurality of spatial streams to constellationpoints.
 13. The AP of claim 12, further configured to: determine amultiple input multiple output (MIMO) scheme for each RU of the multipleRUs; determine a space-time code based on the determined MIMO scheme foreach RU; spread, using the space-time code, the constellation pointsfrom the plurality of spatial streams into a plurality of space-timestreams; and mapping the plurality of space-time streams to a pluralityof transmit chains.
 14. The AP of claim 11, further configured to:determine which RU of the multiple RUs should be used for eachtransmitting antenna; and allocate, to the STA based on the RUdetermination, the encoded bits to one or more RUs of the multiple RUs.15. The AP of claim 11, wherein the encoded bit stream is parsed basedon RU size.
 16. The AP of claim 11, wherein the multiple RUs are one ormore of contiguous or non-contiguous with equal or unequal RU size. 17.The AP of claim 11, wherein the allocation of the encoded bits isfurther determined based on one or more of an RU configurationassociated with the transmission, a quality of service (QoS), or trafficpriorities.
 18. The AP of claim 11, further configured to combine theinterleaved encoded bits from the plurality of interleavers into asequenced bit stream.
 19. The AP of claim 11, wherein the plurality ofinterleavers used is equal to an amount of the multiple RUs allocatedfor the transmission, and wherein each of the plurality of interleaverscorresponds to a corresponding RU of the multiple RUs.
 20. The AP ofclaim 11, further configured to send the transmission to the STA.